How to Practice Meaningful Reflection for Better Team Management

According to the author, true reflection means re‑examining one’s own thought process and, after that, establishing new action rules; otherwise it is merely a simple summary.

If reflection is limited to lying in bed at night and asking, “What did I do poorly today?” or holding a post‑mortem meeting that lists a few questions and improvement measures, it remains a superficial summary and does not constitute real reflection.

For someone who has coded for many years and led teams, genuine reflection involves “thinking about thinking.” Instead of asking merely “What did I do wrong?” one should ask, “Why did I think that way at the time?” The former checks the result, while the latter checks the mental model.

Personal example: when the author first started leading a team, he believed that assigning the strongest engineer to the hardest tasks would maximize team efficiency because the goal was simply to finish things quickly. The strongest person could solve complex requirements fastest and with the best quality, so giving them the hardest work seemed optimal.

Over time, a problem emerged: whenever a complex requirement appeared, the team’s first reaction was to let that person handle it. Consequently, only one person solved complex problems, other members’ growth slowed, and the team became increasingly dependent on the core member.

Reflecting on this, the author realized the real issue was not who performed the work but that his goal had been set incorrectly. He had assumed that team management’s goal was merely to complete the immediate tasks.

He later recognized that team management should also aim to equip the team with the ability to solve more problems in the future. He adjusted his practice: critical tasks still go to core members, but he consciously involves other members in solution design, code review, and even assigns them portions of modules, with experienced engineers providing oversight.

The author summarizes the reflective process in three layers: First layer – “What” : the strongest person does the hardest tasks, which seems most efficient. Second layer – “Why” : questioning why efficiency was assumed to be the most important management goal. Third layer – “New Thinking : managing a team is not just about immediate efficiency but about continuously improving the whole team’s capability. Those who habitually reflect before, during, and after actions progress even faster.